Teamwork
by seaweedfma
Summary: <html><head></head>This is a fic that was done for the 2010/2011 FMA Big Bang contest. It is set between the end of Ishval and when Roy and Riza visit Ed and Al. There are no pairings, maybe a little RoyAi UST. No spoilers, rated T for some adult situations. Enjoy & comment</html>
1. Chapter 1

bTitle:/b Teamwork

bAuthor:/b Seaweed_FMA

bArtist:/b

bGenre:/b Drama, a little Humor

bRating:/b PG-13 for some violence and blood

bWord Count/b 15,709

bCharacters / Pairings:/b Mustang, Hawkeye, Havoc, Breda. Fuery, Falman, Maes, Gracia, and some minor OCs. Maes /Gracia and some Roy/Riza UST.

bWarnings:/b More Manga/Brotherhood based. Some violence, no real spoilers, set pre-series. The Cow owns the characters, not me.

bSummary :/b When Mustang first received his team, they weren't always such a close knit group. It took a potentially tragic event to bring them all together.

CHAPTER 1: The Return

The incessant click-clack of the train wheels on the metal tracks were enough to either lull him to sleep, or drive him crazy- he wasn't sure which. He was glad that as an alchemist he got his own train cabin, even if it was barely big enough to turn around in.

Despite the size, there was another person in the cabin, sleeping soundly and shirtless in his bed. Normally he would have found the nearest person to brag to that he had a woman topless in his cabin- he did have the reputation as a playboy to uphold. But every time he looked at her- finally sleeping after so much pain and suffering, he frowned. It was his fault that she was here.

She stirred slightly, grimacing in pain even as she slept. He knelt down and touched the back of his hand to her forehead, hoping hat she was no longer feverish. She was a little clammy, but she felt a lot cooler than she had on the start of the trip. They still had another day before they arrived in Central, he just had to hope that by then she would be well enough to walk on her own.

"Shh. Rest, We're not home yet. Sleep. Rest up."

"Mmm. Home." The tiniest of smiles graced her face, then she fell back into a deep slumber. He touched his hand to her forehead, to let her know that he was there- a tender, light touch of reassurance.

"Almost home." He whispered in her ear before he leaned away, letting her sleep.

Since he had no place to sleep, and he wasn't very tired anyway, he picked up a book and settled into the one small chair in the room- a molded curving thing built into the wall next to the window. He tried to concentrate, but after reading the same passage half a dozen times and still not remembering what it said, he put it down and looked out at the rolling, grassy hills of the East as they passed by the train window. It was nice to see grass and trees instead of the barren, flat, death lands that marked Ishval.

Home couldn't come soon enough.

After a few more minutes of watching the scenery, he decided to get some air. He headed back towards the caboose, where he figured that he would have company. When he got there, he found that he was right.

"Hey, Hughes. I thought you said that you were going to quit once we left Ishval."

For just the most briefest of moments, Maes had the deer in the headlights look. But as soon as he realized that it was just Roy, he smiled and blew a ring of smoke towards the newcomer to his hiding place.

"This is my last one, I swear. See?" He showed Roy the empty pack. "Gracia was upset when she heard that I took up smoking but... she doesn't understand. Anything we could do to relieve the stress of seeing all that death and destruction..." His voice trailed off.

Roy nodded and gently pat his best friend's shoulder. "Believe me, I know. But we're going back home. And now we get to go back to our lives and pretend that we can't still feel the blood on our hands, or hear a baby's scream in our ears."

"Wow, thanks. Now I feel much better."

"Sorry." Roy muttered, crossing his arms on the railing of the caboose and laying his chin down on his arms. There was a moment of awkward silence before the alchemist finally broke it. "I heard that due to my exemplary performance, I'll probably get a team and a promotion." He angrily spit out those two words- 'exemplary performance'. "Lieutenant Colonel- it has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

"Just what you need, another reason to inflate your already overstuffed ego." Maes elbowed him. "But that's good, Roy." His smile fell. "Just be careful. There are a lot of people who won't like a 25 year old Lieutenant Colonel. You're climbing the ranks fast, and that will make people jealous."

Roy stood up and laughed, then clapped Maes hard enough on the back to cause the cigarette to fall out of his mouth and tumble down off the back of the train.

"Dammit, Roy. That was my last fucking cigarette!"

Roy waved as he opened the door to the last train car. "I'm doing you a favor. Those things will kill you, ya know." He slammed the door behind him and headed back to his cabin, feeling much better than had before.

"You're lucky I like you, Flamey." Maes muttered to the wind.

Roy had somehow fallen into a light sleep in the small, uncomfortable chair by the window. As the train jerked and jolted to a stop, he found himself waking up on the floor- he groaned and rubbed his head where he had fallen. A quick look out the window confirmed that they had indeed finally made it to Central.

"Hey, Hawkeye. Wake up. We're home." He gently touched her shoulder.

"Mmm.. huh?" She blinked her eyes and looked blearily up at him.

"We're in Central. Do you feel well enough to walk out on your own power?"

She sat up with a little hiss of pain. He had burnt as little of her back as he could, but it was still very painful and raw. Over the course of the trip, he had been very diligent when it came to changing the bandages and reapplying the salve that he had procured from the first aid tent before it was all packed away to head back to Central. A few rolls of bandages and some tubes of salve wouldn't be missed in the rush to get out of that desert hell.

"Yes. Thank you, sir." They both knew it was more than just a simple thank you, but nothing else had to be said.

Roy turned around so Hawkeye could get dressed with even a little bit of privacy- he could hear her try to stifle small noises as she put her shirt on., He wished that he could help her, but he would never be so presumptuous to do so, and she would never swallow her pride and ask. It took a while, but eventually she cleared her throat to indicate to him that she was back in uniform.

"I'm going back to my bunk to get my gear." She announced to him after he had turned around. Tomorrow I'll start a short leave of absence- it's already been approved. I'm going back to my father's house to settle the last of his affairs."

Hawkeye had made the decision shortly after her father died to join Mustang in the military. Between having to start at the Military Academy almost immediately to avoid missing the start of the semester and leaving early to join the war effort in Ishval, she hadn't had enough time to go through his things and decide what to do with them. Now seemed as a good a time as any, before she got her permanent assignment. She knew that he would have gone with her if he could- for moral support, to help her pack and to continue to make sure that her back was healing. But he needed to stay in Central, especially if the rumors of him getting a command turned out to be true.

"Be well, Cadet Hawkeye. If you need me, please don't hesitate to call."

"I will, sir." She saluted, then left the cabin, closing the sliding door behind her.

"Stay safe, Riza." Roy muttered quietly to an empty room.

Roy was a bundle of nerves. This was it, he knew it. He had no sooner gotten settled into the small apartment that the military had assigned him to when he got a call to come to Central Command and talk to General Grumman.

He stood in his freshly starched uniform, his hat on his head. He was the picture of a perfect solider- on the outside at least. Inside he was secretly hoping that his flip flopping stomach would decide not to throw up its contents. He stood before the newly promoted General's door for a few moments, trying to gather his nerves. He knew that he only had one chance to make a good impression. This could be his career.

When he was ready, he knocked on the door. "Major Roy Mustang. I have a meeting with General Grumman today."

"Ah yes. Come in, please." A soft, friendly female voice on the other side answered.

As he opened the door, he was not surprised to see a pretty young lady behind the reception desk. Grumman was well known for being quite fond of beautiful young women. Roy could appreciate that- at the academy, he had earned a similar reputation. He smiled at her and winked, not surprised to see a little blush come to her cheeks.

"He's waiting for you inside, sir." She said, punctuating her sentence with a tiny giggle at the end.

"Thank you." Roy took off his hat and knocked at the inside door.

"Ah, Roy. Right on time! Come on in!" He opened the door to get his first look at the infamous General Grumman. He had expected someone younger, but this man was gray haired and short with round glasses on his wrinkled face. This was the man who supposedly had all the women of Central in his address book?

He was even more impressed now.

Roy saluted, standing up straight. "You asked to see me, sir?"

"Yes, at ease. Please, take a seat." He motioned to a seat in front of him, and Roy sat down.

"I asked you here, Roy, because of your record in Ishval. General Grumman turned around and was looking out the window, so he didn't see Roy cringe as he said that. "You've caught the eye of quite a few people here in Central. I'm here to offer you a command. You'll be promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and will get an office at Central Command."

"Sir, I'm honored. Of course I'll take the command." He tried to keep his voice straight, but he couldn't help but be a little excited. This was the first step to move up the ladder to his ultimate goal- the one he had promised to Maes deep in the desert of Ishval.

"Good, I figured you would. I'll get the dossiers for your men together. There will be four of them to start, to make sure that you can handle a command." He turned back around and smiled warmly at Roy. "I've been watching you since you joined the Academy. It isn't every day a Flame Alchemist comes around. I'm very proud of you, and I know that you're going to do great things."

"Thank you, sir." He saluted, and the General saluted back this time. "You are dismissed. I want you to come back at 0900 hours on Monday morning, and I'll have their folders ready for you."

Roy turned around and took a couple of steps towards the door before he turned back around again. "Sir, if I may, I have a request."

"Yes?" His eyebrows raised from under his thick glasses.

"I have one person who I'd like to request for my command. I... worked with them in Ishval, and we work well together."

"Who is it, Mustang?"

"Cadet Riza Hawkeye, sir. In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that I've known her for years, even before Ishval. Her father was my alchemy teacher. But I assure you that there will be no issue with keeping the relationship purely professional." Roy thought could swear that he heard General Grumman mutter "A shame" under his breath, but he knew that couldn't have been right, and shook it off.

"Granted. I'll add her dossier to your folder." Hmm, that was strangely easy, Roy thought to himself. Either this man didn't really care about who he commanded, or he had some ulterior motive. If that was was the case he wanted to know what it was. But either way, he was going to get Hawkeye under his command, which had been his goal, so the ease of getting it done was not important.

"Thank you, sir." He turned on his heels and walked out the door, waiting until he was out in the hallway to smile. It was all coming together. He'd make it to the top, and she was going to be one of the people who was going to help him get there.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 : The Pair

Later that evening, Roy sat at a bar close to the base, Maes occupying the seat next to him. They had already been drinking for a while but they were only in the the first stage of drunkenness- light headed, good natured ribbing.

"So, I hear that you're getting a promotion and command. Congratulations, Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang!" Maes smiled and raised his beer to toast.

All the dark eyed man could do was shake his head and smile. "You're going to do a good job in Investigations. I didn't think Old Man Grumman had told anyone yet."

"I have my ways of finding out. But that isn't why I asked you here."

He ordered another beer for each of them, then looked at Maes. "So, why did you invite me here, then?"

"I got a problem."

Roy elbowed his best friend, almost making him spill his beer. "You've got a lot of problems, Maes."

"No, really!" It was hard for Roy to take him seriously when he was starting to slur his words slightly. "I need you to help me."

He sighed, it usually ended up being quite a pain whenever Maes asked for help. "All right. What is it?"

"Well, it's Gracia. She's a special girl. I'm sure of this now. She's the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with. Being in that desert, it puts things in perspective. I wanna start a family- have a wife and a couple of children, and I want it to be with her. So... I think I wanna pop the question. I already got the ring. It was my mother's."

Roy slapped him on the back and Maes spit out the beer he had just downed. The bartender shot them a death look and cleaned the beer off the bar with his rag, then wandered off.

"Congratulations, Maes. But why do you need my help?"

"Well, I'm not sure how to do it. I want it to be all romantic. But you're the ladies' man. How do you wine and dine them?"

"Well, I take them out for dinner and buy them a glass of wine." Roy bemusedly raised an eyebrow.

It was Maes' turn to try to punch Roy, but he wasn't holding his liquor quite as well, so he missed and spilled more beer. The bartender mumbled something about kicking them out, but he just wandered off to the other side of the bar, still quietly complaining about the troublemakers.

"Asshole. So you aren't going to help me?"

"I'm serious. Girls like it when you take them out to a nice restaurant. If it was me, I'd take the matre'd aside and explain the situation, and have them put the ring in your champagne at the end of the night or something like that. Some really fancy places have a string quartet that can come to your table and play a song just for you two."

"See, I knew there was a reason that I kept you around as a friend!" Roy just rolled his eyes and took another sip of his beer.

Several hours, and many beers later, they were both well past drunk. Maes had his arm around his best friend and had just finished a rousing rendition of "Long Live Amestris" with slightly bawdier lyrics.

"You guys have had enough. Head on out." The bartender had finally had enough of the both of them. Maes was about to open his mouth to protest, but Roy shook his head and put his hand on his Maes' shoulder.

"Let'sh go."

They propped each other up as they somehow got off the bar stools without falling onto the dirty floor and stumbled out of the bar. "Hey, Maes. Let's go to Gracia's houshe. You can propose to her."

"But... I wanna be all romantic and stuff!"

"It will be all romantic and stuff. We'll get flowers and you can sing up to her window."

"She lives with her parentsh."

"We won' wake em up. Just don't be too damn loud."

"Well, okay. As long as you're there to make sure I don' run away!"

"Deal!"

How they ever found her house, neither of them could figure out once they had sobered up the next morning. It was a two level brick house in the middle of a working-class neighborhood. Thankfully, her window was on the side, close to the back, so it was easy for them to sneak up to it quietly.

"Up there!" Maes pointed to a second story window, where the light was off and the curtains were drawn closed. There was a small tree close to the window, but there was no branch that was close enough to the window to get to it.

Roy nudged him. "Come on, go get 'er!"

Maes found a small stone and tried to throw it up to her window, but it fell well short. Roy burst out laughing, not caring how loud he was. "You throw like a girl!"

"You try, then!"

"Fine." He found a slightly larger pebble and tossed it up. It hit just below the windowsill.

"You missed."

"Yeah, but at least I almost got it up there!"

"I can hit it!" Maes picked up a stone and threw it hard up to the window. Unfortunately, it was right on the money, and there was a loud crash as the window broke.

"Oh, shit! Run!" Maes turned, but before he could go anywhere Roy grabbed his shirt collar and kept him from running away. A moment later, the light of her bedroom came on. She jerked on the curtains and opened the window.

"Who is it?" Roy nudged Maes, then let go of his collar and hid close by in a bush by the side of the house.

"It's me, Gracia."

"Maes, it's the middle of the night. What are you doing here?" Maes looked to where Roy was- his best friend silently urged him on.

"Gracia... I... um... er... I have shomethin' that I wanna tell ya."

"Have you been drinking?"

He paused for a moment. "... A little."

"Go home, Maes. You're going to get us both in trouble."

"No! I gotta talk to ya! It's important!"

"Maes, please! You can come see me tomorrow. Whatever it is, it can wait a few hours."

Maes looked pleadingly over at Roy, not sure what he should do.

"Talk to her. Climb up the tree and get closer to her."

"Maes. No. Please. Don't."

But it was too late. He was already shimmying up the tree with the ease of someone who had done this before. Roy had had to climb up trees when it came to sneaking into girls' dorms in the military academy, but the quickness that Maes had gotten to the top had put him to shame. If he'd been more sober, he would've taken notes.

"Go, Maes! Go!" Roy cupped his hands and yelled encouragement up to his best friend.

Gracia looked angrily at Roy while Maes was climbing up. "Be quiet! You'll get in trouble if my parents wake up!" She turned back to the tree, where Maes had made it all the way up. There was a small branch that went close to her window, but it wasn't even close to strong enough to hold up a person.

"Gracia Matthews, I love you. I want to live with you for the resht of our lives and have a family and lots of kids and a house with a white picket fence. Marry me, Gracia!"

"Yeah! Way to go, Maes!"

A light came on in the front of the house, then another. "Oh, shit. Maes, run! Her parents are awake!" Roy sped off into the night, heading back towards his military apartment right outside the massive grounds of Central Command.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Maes looked down just in time to watch Roy run off. "Don' leave me!" He looked back over to Gracia and blew her a kiss. "I mean it. I'm gonna marry you! I don' care how long it takes!"

"Go. Just go, Maes. Before my parents come in."

"I love you, Gracia!"

"I love you too, now go!"

Maes started down the tree, almost slipping and falling a couple of times. As soon as he was down, he yelled out one last "I love you. Marry me!" before he was off into the night, right as her father knocked at her bedroom door.

"Gracia, honey. Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine, Daddy. Just some random drunk from the bar down the road. I think they broke my window."

"I could swear it sounded like that Maes boy."

"No, it wasn't."

"You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Daddy. I promise. I'm going back to sleep."

"Okay, goodnight, honey. We'll fix the window in the morning."

"Night." Despite being tired after that encounter with her seriously drunk boyfriend Gracia had trouble going to sleep. She was too excited thinking about how she was going to become Mrs. Gracia Hughes. There was only one problem. She had never technically told him yes.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3: The Men

It had taken Roy most of the rest of the weekend to get over the hangover from that night of drinking. He had drank before, but he had never been that drunk. He called Maes the next day- his best friend said that he was so hungover and still afraid of being caught by her parents, so he had decided not to talk to Gracia. They didn't remember all the details from what they had done that night- just enough to remember how much trouble they could have gotten into.

By the time that Monday morning came around, Roy was back to his old self. He made sure that he arrived at Central Command with plenty of time to spare. Technically, even though the General had called him Lieutenant Colonel on Friday, this was the first official day of his new rank- and the day that he would learn who was under his command.

As he had done three days before, he knocked on the door to the outside office, after double and triple checking that his hair and uniform were in perfect order several times in every bathroom between the front door and the office.

"Come in, Lieutenant Colonel Mustang." It was the same woman that he had spoken with the first time. "On time, as usual. The General is ready to see you."

"Thank you." He once again took off his hat and knocked on the inner office door.

"Come in, my boy!" Roy opened the door and saluted. "Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang, reporting for duty, sir!" It was the first time that he had said the rank himself. He loved how it rolled off his tongue, and he couldn't help but smile.

"At ease. Take a seat." He took the same seat he had before. General Grumman went behind his desk and opened a drawer. He took a thick folder out, and dropped it on the desk, then pushed it over to Roy.

"You have three days to look these over. The men will arrive on Thursday morning. You'll be in Office C-20. That's on the third floor, the same hallway that I'm on here on the second floor, but a little further down. I expect you to be there when they come in at 0800 hours. The three days should give you enough time to get familiar with their dossiers and order the supplies that you'll need for your office. I suggest you requisition your chairs and desks today so you won't be sitting on the floor on Thursday morning." He chuckled.

"Thank you, sir." He stood up and picked up the thick folder, flipping through it quickly. He would get down to really reading and memorizing them in the comfort of his apartment later, but he wanted to at least skim over their information.

"Ah, I see you can't wait to see who they are. I like that kind of enthusiasm. We need that. Let me tell you a little about them. I hand picked them because they are each the best in their chosen fields." He smiled. "Well, except for Second Lieutenant Hawkeye. But I think she'll make an excellent addition to your team."

The general took a small sip of from the cup of tea on his desk and continued. "Second Lieutenant Heymans Breda." Roy flipped to his dossier in the folder to read about the man while he was talking about. "First in his class in strategy. Unfortunately he was last in his class when it came to physical fitness." He laughed. "He's a pretty good shot with a gun, but excellent when it comes to deduction and reasoning."

"Breda's roommate at the Military Academy was Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc. A bit of a country bumpkin, not the smartest man, but a crack shot. He has the second place record for sharpshooting at the Academy, behind one of the other members of your team." There was a bit of proud snugness in his voice when he said that last statement, though Roy wasn't sure why. "He is an expert is most firearms and other munitions, and has been trained in Covert Ops. So if you need someone to sneak in somewhere, he's the best man for the job."

"Master Sergeant Kain Fuery. He was one of the youngest graduates of the Academy. He was allowed in at a young age because of his grades. I spoke with his parents when the board was deciding whether to allow him to enroll. From a young age, he would take apart anything that electronic in his house, and after a while he figured out how to put them back together- eventually he got to where they would work even better than before. His specialty is communications. He can both man and fix any radio you put in front of him. It's always good to have a fix-it man on the job." Roy silently nodded.

"Warrant Officer Vato Falman. He was a policeman for years, and only recently moved over to Central Command. He has a photographic memory. He's able to recall most anything that he has seen, so he's a walking repository for information. He's very smart, but not very ambitious. That is why he's never made it beyond Warrant Officer. A quiet man, he was in the Investigation Department when he was a policeman, but that never went anywhere, so that's why he enlisted in the military. He was hoping he could use those skills here."

"I am sure that I'll be able to use all of their skills to the best of their abilities, sir."

"I'm sure that you will." The General smiled at the dark eyed man. "Of course, I really don't have to tell you about the last member of your team. It sounds like you know her well."

"Not as well as you may think, sir. When I was under her father's tutelage, he made it quite clear that I was not to do anything to get to know her better. He told me what parts of my body that he would burn if he found me talking to her."

Grumman laughed heartily. He had known Berthold Hawkeye quite well, although this young man apparently didn't know that. He hadn't been very fond of the man that his daughter had married, but he was family, and he was honestly sad when he had heard that the troubled man had died.

"Do you know how to play chess, my boy?"

"I do, though I am far from an expert."

"Good, good! So let's play a round. If you win, I'll tell you a juicy bit of information. But if I win, you have to give me a juicy bit of information. I am sure you have plenty of interesting tidbits in that head of yours."

The competitive streak in Roy wouldn't let him say no.

Half an hour later, Grumman put Roy into checkmate. They had been chatting pleasantly the whole time- apparently Grumman had quite a bit of gossip about what goes on in Central Command.

"Ah, well I guess I'll have to keep my juicy bit of information for another day." He was going to tell Roy about being related to Hawkeye, but he would hold that back for now. Maybe it would be interesting to tell him another time. "So, what can you tell me?"

There was really nothing of particular interest that he had for the man. He'd just come back from Ishval and had only been in Central for a few days. Then it hit him. If he can't think of anything interesting to tell him, he knew someone who did. "If you really want to know what is going on in Central, I would suggest that you visit The Surly Sailor Bar. The owner of the bar, Madame Christmas, is quite good at gathering information." Roy held back that he was the foster son and nephew of the owner. It would be interesting to tell him another time. Roy knew that with the General's penchant for women, he couldn't resist going this bar- the fact that it was a brothel was the worst best kept secret in town..

"I think I may just do that. Thank you for that information." He said, as he put the pieces back into place on the board. "I just found out that I'm going to be shipped off to Eastern Command soon, so I won't be able to watch over you directly, but I'll be watching with great interest. I know you'll show us all that this was a good decision to give you command."

"Thank you sir. With your permission, I'd like some time to go read these over."

"Yes. You're dismissed. Good luck, Lieutenant Colonel." He offered his hand. Roy shook it, then saluted. He took the folder and left, heading towards his new office, curious to see where he was going to be working from now on.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4: The Jitters

By Thursday, the furniture had been delivered to the office. Most everything that would be needed was requisitioned, and everything was ready. He thought that arriving almost an hour early would give him some time to get a little work done and make a good impression on his men.

He was honestly surprised when he walked into the office a little after 0700 hours and saw Hawkeye already there, with a pile of papers on his desk, and a cup of coffee beside it.

She immediately rose to her feet from the small desk next to his own and saluted. "Good morning, sir. Second Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, reporting for duty." Her eyes softened a little bit. It had been a couple of weeks since he had seen her, and he was glad to know that she was okay. He couldn't help but give her a once over. As he suspected, her uniform was fresh pressed and immaculate, her short hair perfectly quaffed. She was beautiful, there was no way to deny it.

He saluted back to her. "At ease, Lieutenant." He smiled at her. "It's nice to see you again. Your back, it's..."

"It's fine, sir. And that's something that we can talk about elsewhere. That's not something to be brought up at the office. Sir." She added the last word after a hint of a pause. So that was how it was going to be, he thought to himself. All business.

It was a pretty quiet hour after that. Roy wasn't sure how he had so much paperwork on his first day. Mostly it was requisitions and other paperwork for his new team. He was so engrossed in his pile of papers that he didn't even hear the light knock on the door until Hawkeye said "Come in."

Roy looked up in time to see a tall man with dark hair, streaked with gray. He saluted, ramrod straight. "Warrant Officer Vato Falman, reporting for duty, sir."

Roy stood up and saluted him. "At ease. Come in and pick a desk in the middle. I'll wait to brief you until everyone arrives. Until then, just relax. They should be here-" He was interrupted by another knock. It was Fuery. He introduced himself, and Roy told him the same thing. Less than 5 minutes later, the four of them heard an argument going on on the other side of the door.

"It's your fault we're late!"

"You're the one who overslept!"

"Yeah, but when I came over, you were still in the shower!"

"I wanna look good for my first day. Gotta make a good-" Roy sighed and opened the door, tired of listening to the argument. They both immediately snapped to attention and saluted him.

"Glad to finally have you on board." He said, both amused and annoyed. "Come in. We'll get started. Breda elbowed Havoc, and then walked in. They took the last two desks that were grouped in two rows of three in the middle of the room, with Roy's and Hawkeye's desks at the far end of the room from the door.

"Now that everyone has finally arrived..." He shot a look at the two latecomers. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang. I am an alchemist, with a specialty of fire. I recently returned from the..." He paused, a haunted look coming over his face. "The Ishval Rebellion. Because of my exemplary service, I was given this command." There was a bit of bitterness to his tone on the last sentence, but no one seemed to react to it. He looked them over- they were listening, but the little mousey man, Fuery, seemed to be hanging on his every word.

"I know most of you are fresh out of the Academy, so I want to give you a little bit of time to get acclimated to the military life outside of academia. I'd suggest you all go as a group- familiarize yourself with the layout of the building. It's a large place, so it's best to know where the various rooms are that you'll be dealing with on a day to day basis. You have until after lunch, which is from 1200 to 1300 hours. I want you all back here at 1300 hours sharp. We'll start our work then."

For a moment, they all looked at each other, not quite sure what to think. Finally Hawkeye looked at them sternly. "Well, what are you waiting for, those are the Lieutenant Colonel's orders." Finally they all stood up and filed out the door, leaving a less than happy Mustang in their wake.

When they had all left, Hawkeye sighed and sank into her chair.

"Well that was a disaster, Lieutenant Hawkeye."

"Don't worry, sir. They'll come around."

Roy just shrugged at that. "I know General Grumman picked all of the men for their skills, but I'm beginning to think that he was testing me with men that he knew were going to be difficult."

"Well, he did give you me, sir."

"I know, it was almost too easy. I wonder if he had some other motive for allowing you on my team, though I have no idea what it could possibly be."

"I think I know why he did it, sir."

"And why is that, Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

"Because he's my grandfather, sir."

Roy was stunned. "The General, he's your grandfather?" It made a lot more sense now, that he knew that. General Grumman wanted to know that his granddaughter was safe, and who better than with the Flame Alchemist?

"He is, sir. My mother's father. I take after my father's side of the family more." She paused for a moment. "My mother's side of the family, they disowned my father before my mother died. And after she died, they never spoke to my father or myself until I joined the military."

"I never knew." Roy's voice seemed small in the large office.

"We... never really talked about it, sir." He had been a student under her father for so long, and he had tried a couple of times early on to get her father to tell him about his wife, but he quickly learned that the subject was taboo, and after the first week he never bothered to bring it up again.

"I guess I really do owe the General a lot, for letting his granddaughter work under my command. I'll have to work extra hard and show him that I deserve this." He smiled cockily at her, a hint of mischievousness to his grin.

"I have no doubt in my mind that you can do it, sir. I wouldn't have suggested it to him otherwise."

That woman never ceased to amaze him. All he could do was laugh, and then get back to his work. Hopefully working through lunch would set a good precedent for his men.

The lunch hour passed quickly, though the pile of papers that he had to work on never seemed to budge- he really wasn't sure how that was possible. It wasn't surprising that the men walked in about five minutes late from their lunch break. He knew he should ream them for it, but he was pretty sure that fear wasn't the best way to get his men to respect and work well under him.

"Thank you for finally coming back." It was the closest he got to chiding them. "As you can tell, you all have work waiting for you on your desks. The first part are forms that you need to fill out for your jobs, information on yourself and your next of kin in case something we to happen to you, and other forms such as insurance and paycheck and such." He wasn't surprised at their faces when he so nonchalantly talked about their possible deaths. He had seen so much, been through so much, that it was just another part of who he was and what he did.

"I expect you to have all of this work done by the end of the work day, 1700 hours." That was met with a few groans.

"Okay, if there are no objections, then get to work, gentleman." They all filed over to their desks and started to eye the papers in the stacks in front of them. Roy had put their own military paperwork on top, giving them something fairly easy to start on. But those didn't take long, and as soon as they got to the real work, they started to talk softly to each other, trying to figure out what they were supposed to do.

Finally, after letting them flounder for about 15 minutes, Hawkeye rolled her eyes, got up from her desk, pulled her gun from her holster, and walked over to them, cocking the gun. "It's not hard. The paperwork is in triplicate, so you fill out the first page with the information, and then put the papers in their respective baskets here in the middle of the desks. They are color coded. The yellow copy goes in the yellow basket." she tapped it with the tip of her gun. "The pink copy goes in the red basket." She tapped it as well. "And the blue copy goes in the blue basket." It also got tapped. "The blue copy is the copy we keep. They go on my desk at the end of the work day. The pink copy goes to Administrative, and the blue copy will go to the Fuhrer or one of the Generals for a final approval. Is that clear?"

It was only when she was done that she noticed that the color had drained out of all of their cheeks, and they were staring at her, slack jawed and open mouthed.

"Well? Get to work." Four pairs of eyes quickly went to their desks and four pairs of hands went to the papers to start filling them out.

Roy was just as slack jawed as the rest of them. As soon as she turned back to him, he ducked his head down and started on his own work, even though he knew that hadn't been directed at him, he was already well aware of the ire of Hawkeye, and he didn't want that anger directed onto him.

For the rest of the day, hardly a word was spoken. At 1700 hours, Roy rose out of his seat and announced that they could leave. He hadn't even finished speaking by the time the three of them had stood up and were already gathering their stuff to leave.

"I expect you all back at 0800 hours. Sharp." He put a little emphasis on the last word, reminding them that they had been late today. "Dismissed." He saluted them, then sat back down. He still had a little work that he had to get done himself. To his surprise, and pleasure, they all saluted him back, which was the correct protocol, and then left quickly, practically falling over themselves to get out of there.

Roy smiled and rolled his eyes at his Lieutenant, then got back to work.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5: The Bar

Roy had a hard time sleeping that night. He had to find some way to bring his men under his command. He knew intimidation worked when it came to Hawkeye, but that wasn't his style. His intimidation tended to be more subtle.

He knew part of the reason that they were having a hard time listening to him was that they were, for the most part, right out of the Military Academy, and were still young and a little brash. But it was also because he himself was so young. It was hard to take a man seriously that was 3 or 4 ranks but only a few years older than you.

By the time the morning came, he knew that there was only one choice.

Bribery.

Once again Hawkeye had already arrived by the time that he got to work, complete with a cup of coffee waiting for him on his desk. He smiled his thanks to her as he sat down.

The clock on the wall indicated that it was five minutes to 0800 hours when he next looked up from his paperwork. Silently, he wondered if the scare that Hawkeye had put into them yesterday had worked. But he needn't worry. Right at the stroke of eight, they all came in as a group, silently finding their seats, not even groaning at the pile of paper that was slightly taller than the one that had been on their desks the day before.

"Good morning, men." Roy started, as the took their seats. "I know that this is still a little strange, working a desk job under a new commander. So I want to make you feel more relaxed." He smiled mischievously over at Hawkeye, who just frowned at him.

"So, here is the deal. It is Friday night, and I am guessing that most of you are pretty new to Central. I know a good bar close by. So, if you guys work hard today, I'll go with you all to the bar tonight, and the first round will be on me."

That certainly got their spirits up quickly.

The day went pretty quickly for the group, and when 1700 hours came around, Roy stood up as he had yesterday. "Okay, finish up whatever paperwork that you are working on now, and when everyone is ready, we'll head on down to the bar. It is only a couple of blocks away."

"Sir, I'm afraid I will have to decline your offer. I appreciate it, but I have to get back to my apartment. I have things that I have to take care of there." There was an audible sigh from the group in the middle of the room. None of them were particularly excited about the prospect of having Hawkeye along with them. She didn't seem like the kind to relax, even after work.

She was the only one who saw the slight disappointment on his face when he turned to face her. "I certainly can't force you to come with me, Lieutenant. But I will be disappointed."

"I am sorry to disappoint you, sir. But I insist that I decline."

"Okay. I will see you on Monday, then. Have a nice weekend, Lieutenant." She nodded, got her belongings together, and saluted her Colonel as she left. He saluted back, watching her leave. As quick as the slight disappointment was on his face, it was gone as he faced the men again.

"Let's go."

An hour later, the first round had been finished, as well as the second round for most of them. For a while, it had been a bit awkward. But eventually the beer won out and their lips loosened. For as well as Roy had read their dossiers, and had learned everything that he could in their official records, he found out a whole lot more as they all sat and talked.

Somehow, the conversation moved to Havoc, and why he had joined the military. He said that he had seen the soldiers as they were traveling back from Ishval. His small town was one of the stops the train made to restock their coal and water and give the men (who could walk) a chance to stretch their legs. Since they were the only general store in town, he heard a lot of stories, both good and bad. But despite that, he had known what he was going to do. He had already wanted an excuse to get out of his little country town, and what better way to do it than to pair it with a chance to help others? He was a crack shot with a gun. He had to keep squirrels and small varmints away from the crops that his family grew in the back of their shop/house, so it seemed like a natural fit.

As they continued to drink and talk, Roy found out that their reasons for joining the army were mostly the same- they wanted to find a way out of their small towns and wanted to help and protect the public. Fuery was the only one who had grown up in a big city- Central, so he was a home town boy- and he had mostly joined because he wasn't sure what else to do. He was so bright that his fairly well to do parents were at their wits end, because he kept taking apart anything electronic in their house.

Roy listened intently. Despite already having finished off a couple of beers, he had been raised in a bar and knew how to hold his alcohol. He wanted to stay sober enough to remember everything that they were telling him. Finally, it felt like he was able to get them to open up and really get to know the men who were under his command.

It didn't take long for Roy to notice that having Breda, Havoc and alcohol together was going to be a recipe for disaster. He knew that they had been roommates while at the military academy, but they also seemed to be drinking buddies and really good friends- they reminded him of the relationship between himself and Maes, and if they were even close to the same, that could be dangerous.

No one was quite sure how the conversation stared, but it ended up with Breda daring Havoc to try to get the phone number of a pretty little blond girl who was sitting a few tables away from them. Havoc, being the testosterone laden, beer filled man that he was, would never think about backing down from the challenge, so he steeled his nerves and approached the young woman.

Despite there being some debate as to how this whole debacle began, there was no argument about how it ended- in a terrible, flaming, downward spiral for Jean Havoc. It seemed alright, at first. The room was busy enough that they couldn't hear what the two people were saying, but judging by the looks on their faces, they both seemed to be enjoying themselves.

That is, until the woman's boyfriend came back.

By the time Breda was up from the table, the yelling and shoving had already upgraded into a full out brawl. Being a county boy, Jean knew how to fight. He was a pretty big guy- tall and well filled out, and he outweighed and out stood the boyfriend by a few inches, though the boyfriend was doing a pretty good job at standing his ground.

As soon as Breda got up, the rest of the group was on their feet as well, fueled by beer and adrenalin. The girl yelled at all of them to stop, but by then Havoc and the other man were on the ground, wrestling and punching each other whenever they had an opening.

It couldn't have been any more than a minute before the bartender and a bouncer were on the scene. If Jean was big, the bouncer was HUGE. He physically pulled them apart and shoved Jean back when he tried to make a second lunge for the man. Breda caught a hold of him as he fell backwards, keeping him from falling and preventing him from starting anything again.

"You guys have to leave." He said, crossing his arms.

Not wanting any trouble, Roy took the lead. "Yes, sir, thank you. We'll go home, I apologize for the trouble." He turned to his men. "Let's go." He said, trying to sound authoritative like he was controlling him men, but with a tiny hint of mirth. They followed him outside, where he was better able to assess the damage. Havoc was going to have a pretty good shiner in the morning, and his lip was bleeding, but the other man looked like he had gotten the worst of the injuries.

"I guess I win the bet, huh Havo?"

With a grin that could only be described as positively radiant, he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. It even had a little bit of blood spattered on it, lending credence to its authenticity.

"You lucky fuckin' dog!" Breda slapped his back hard enough for his friend to stumble forward a couple of steps.

"I think this is a good time to break up for the night. I trust you all can find a cab back to the dorms. I'll see you all first thing Monday morning. Have a nice rest of the weekend." With that, he turned and started on the short walk back to his place, whistling a happy, albeit slightly out of tune song.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6: The Marriage

After the events of that evening, the office worked much more smoothly. Roy still wasn't convinced that he had gotten the men's total loyalty, but he knew that he had taken a step in the right direction. Loyalty had to be earned by deeds and over time, and he was doing his best to show them that he was a leader that was worth following.

Even as he worked unusually hard in the office, which especially surprised Lieutenant Hawkeye, his mind was elsewhere. His best friend had drunkenly proposed to his long time girlfriend months ago, and the time was quickly approaching for the wedding.

And to add to top it all off, as if he wasn't distracted enough, he and all of his men were transferred to the Eastern Command Headquarters. Roy considered it a demotion by people who were scared of how quickly he was climbing up the ladder at such a young age. And even worse, that made it a lot harder to help his best friend plan his for his wedding day.

Maes had made him the best man- there had never really been any doubt that it would happen. But Roy was sure that Maes had made Riza a bridesmaid just to annoy him. He was so insistent that Roy needed to find a wife, and the bespectacled man was convinced that if anyone would match up well with Roy, it would be her. Gracia's younger sister was the Matron of Honor. She was a nice- if a slightly plain woman, Roy had met her before and they got along well. The rest of the bridesmaids and groomsmen were friends and coworkers- the wedding party was set.

As time time approached, Roy was able to get time off and train tickets for his men. It was going to be a civilian wedding, but besides Roy and Riza, none of the rest of them were in the wedding, so they were all going to get to laugh at him while he suffered in a tuxedo. And again, he was convinced that Maes was doing this to make his life miserable.

A couple of days before the wedding, they all boarded a train and took to their small cabins- Havoc and Breda sharing one, Fuery and Falman sharing a second, and Roy and Riza sharing the third- on her insistence, she wanted to be close enough to protect him. This was the perfect opportunity for someone to take advantage of him being out of the safety of Eastern Command to hurt or kill him. If course, this gave the rest of his men full license to cat call and whistle at him, getting to share a private cabin with the beautiful, if more than slightly scary Lieutenant. All Roy could do was roll his eyes at them and shoo them off so he could get settled for the long ride back to Central.

He groaned when he walked in and only saw one bed. "Well, it looks like we are going to have to take turns sleeping then." In the corner was a small molded plastic chair, the only other place to sit in the small cabin- this was disturbingly familiar. "You can take the first round. I'll wake you up after a few hours."

"Thank you, sir." She put her suitcase in the storage area above the bed and laid down. It was surprisingly comfortable for a train, though it didn't compare to her mattress at home. Roy settled into his seat and looked over at her.

"What is it, sir?"

"Sorry. I guess I so rarely get to see you in civilian clothes. I forgot how unflattering those military uniforms are on a person's figure."

"Be careful, sir, that could be taken as bordering on harassment." She tried to sound serious, but he could hear the slight amusement in her voice.

Roy bowed low, as low as he could in that chair. "I apologize, Lieutenant Hawkeye. Forgive my rudeness."

"I will... this time, sir." She smiled at him. For a moment, there was a bit of an awkward silence. "A Cenz for your thoughts, sir?"

That was enough to break him out of his stupor. "Oh. I guess my mind was just wandering." He smiled slyly at her. "I should stop staring. You forgave me once, but I may get slapped if I can't get my meandering eyes under control."

"That is probably for the best, sir." He averted his eyes down, away from her.

"Yes." A knock on the door was actually a relief for Roy.

"Sir?" Jean Havoc popped his head in. "I was wondering if you two perhaps wanted some lunch? The food car just opened."

Hawkeye turned to her commanding officer. I'm fine, sir. I just want to get some rest, I'm really not hungry. You can go ahead."

"You sure, Lieutenant?

Yes, sir. You two go eat something."

"I can get you a sandwich for later."

"That would be nice, sir. Thank you."

"Okay, rest well, Lieutenant."

"Thank you, sir."

The evening was perfect . It was cool, with a slight breeze that fluttered the flaps of the tent that the small wedding was being held in. As the best man, He was already at the front of the tent with Maes and the Justice of the Peace when the bridal party entered from the rear. It was the first time both Maes and Roy saw the two women in their dresses.

"Wow..." They both said it in unison when Gracia came in, with Riza trailing behind, holding her long white train. They were beautiful, a perfect pair in the pure white wedding dress and the deep bold red of the bridesmaids. The bridesmaid's dresses were sleeveless- with a high back and a low, dipping front. It hugged every soft, supple curve of her body. She must have talked to Gracia before hand about the dress. He hadn't even thought about it- how she would have to be so careful when she was out of her uniform, it just made him admire her more.

The bridal party walked up to the front and paused while Riza pulled Gracia's veil back, then took her spot with the other bridesmaids. Roy didn't even realize that he had been staring at her until Maes elbowed him. He smiled at the groom and took his spot as well.

The wedding was short, with a small speech by the justice of the peace before the presentation of the rings. They gave their vows and exchanged rings, and at the end, Maes leaned in and gave his new bride a soft, gentle kiss. Roy smiled at his best friend, not surprised when he saw an equally large smile on Riza's face.

"Hey, sir. Nice tux! Breda slapped Roy hard enough on the back that he stumbled forward a step. Not being in the wedding party, the rest were dressed nicely, but only Roy had to suffer through wearing a tuxedo. He cut a rather dashing figure, and he really didn't mind- he was definitely getting the eye of many women, but was far from the most comfortable thing to wear, and it was still going to be a while before he could get out of it.

He endured the good natured ribbing that his coworkers gave him. He was glad to see that they were comfortable enough with him that they felt like they could give him a hard time- it was a happy day. When he looked at Maes and Gracia dancing together, their first dance as husband and wife-how intensely joyous they were, he knew that this was the best day of all of their lives.

When the music ended, it was time for the bridesmaid and groomsmen to dance. Usually the matron of honor would dance with the best man, but since she was already married, and there was an extra bridesmaid, Gracia's sister danced with her husband. That left Roy to dance with someone else. When he found out who it was, he looked over to Maes, who just shrugged and smiled, then went back to dancing with his new wife.

"Sir, we don't have to do this, if you don't feel comfortable with it."

"Don't be silly, Lieutenant. It is protocol, after all." He smiled and offered her his hand, which she gladly took.

They moved like a slowly flowing river, smooth and graceful,- each one two halves of a greater whole. They shifted, ebbed and flowed in a perfect harmony. Both of them were caught up in the moment, so they didn't notice that some of the people dancing had stopped to watch them, almost as if they had never seen such a perfect pair of dancers before.

"Gracia, look." Maes nudged her very gently. "Those two dancing. I would swear that they were made for each other."

"Maybe they were, love." To anyone else, it just looked like two soldiers who made a good dancing pair, but Maes knew Roy well enough to see that he was truly happy, which was very rare with him. There was something special between them, there was no doubt about it.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7: The Case

It didn't take too long for things to settle back to somewhat normal after their trip to Central. Things were pretty quiet in East City for a while. Almost too quiet for Roy. He had a feeling that something big was going to happen.

And unfortunately, he was right.

Maes made it a habit to call Roy at least a few times a week- or every day if he could. At first he told his best friend about their wonderful 2 week vacation to Aeurgo and the sea, which he had always wanted to see, but neither of them had been out of Amestris before. After a while Maes was back to his old tricks, asking when Roy was going to find a wife and settle down and take a nice long vacation.

"What about that Hawkeye girl? You two certainly seemed to be hitting it off at the wedding."

Roy could only imagine the smile that Maes was wearing all the way over in Central. "Hughes." He said while he rubbed his eyes. He called him Hughes and not Maes was because it was one of the few things that actually ANNOYED Maes Hughes. He always called Roy by his first name, unless they were at work, and even then only when they were in front of superior officers. But Roy on the other hand, only used his first name when there was no one else around, except maybe Gracia.

"Hughes, I already told you. She is a friend from years back. Her father was my alchemy teacher. She is more like a sister to me than anything else."

"I don't think anyone dances with their sister like you were dancing with her. People would... talk."

"Hughes.."

"But that isn't why I called." That was a shocker to Roy, usually there was no other business other than to annoy him.

"So, why did you call then?"

"There have been some murders here in Central." There was a pregnant pause. "Usually the military doesn't get involved, but this is different. Whoever it is... they have been killing women in the military, both officers, and civilians who work in military offices."

Roy couldn't help but look over to his side, where Riza was working hard on a pile of papers, When she noticed that he was looking, there was the briefest moment of surprise, and almost happiness, but in a split second it was replaced by a frown. "Tell Major Hughes to hang up and let you get back to work, sir." And as fast as that, she was back at work.

"... Have you been listening to anything that I have been saying Roy?"

"Oh, sorry. I was... distracted." He immediately regretting saying that. Maes was smart enough to know what hat distracted him.

"Yes, I am sure that your Second Lieutenant is quite a distraction for you." It was easy to tell that he was smiling while he said that by the tone in his voice.

"She is fine, Hughes. So what was so damn important that you had to bother me at work?"

"The murders, they had been going on for over a week, but a few days ago they mysteriously stopped. Since we had been very actively pursuing this, we think that the killer or killers may have moved onto another town. We doubt that they have just up and stopped, after killing a dozen women in less than ten days. It is more likely that they have traveled to another big town. We have already called the Northern, Southern, and Western Command Centers. We doubt they would go north because of the hostile environment and the fact that snow leaves footprints. We are guessing they either went south or more likely, east."

Roy took a moment to take this all in. He could see why Maes would guess here. Eastern Command was known for being more lax than the other command centers, and there was a rumor that quite a few people were on the take from various organizations. That had been one reason why Roy had been transferred here, to try to passively root out the source of the corruption. He still considered it a demotion, punishment for rising through the ranks so fast. He was sure to stagnate here. But perhaps this was what he needed to get back to Central. A nice case like this could get him seen by the right people.

"So far all of the women have been in uniform, traveling to or from work, and we know it has to be the same person or people, because we have deliberately kept it out of the papers, so there couldn't be a copycat killer. We don't want anyone else getting any idea about this."

That was why he hadn't heard about it before. But why hadn't Maes mentioned it in any of his phone calls? He had sounded tired lately, but he figured that his new wife had been keeping him up. Perhaps he had been stressing about this case, but didn't think that it was important enough for him to know about it, at least until now.

"I assume that you have have already sent copies of the information that you have gathered so far to me?"

"It should arrive within the next day or two at the latest, by private courier. It is safer to send it from person to person and keep the military out of it. Looks less suspicious. So it should come directly to your apartment."

"And of course, there aren't pictures of you and your new wife on your honeymoon in there, right?"

"Hey, I had to make some sort of cover story, right?"

Roy rolled his eyes. "Of course. I will inform my men, and will brief them as soon as the information arrives."

"I have spoken with some higher ups in Eastern Command, and they agreed with my recommendation to put you in charge of this investigation. Personally I think they are all too lazy to do it. They are afraid that they won't be able to solve it and it will reflect badly on them. This is your chance to come back to see me in Central. You solve this case, and you could be the youngest Colonel in Amestrian history, with a nice big office here in Central Command." Maes knew just what carrot to dangle in front of his nose to make sure that he would bite.

"Okay. I will advise you when I receive it."

"Oh,, don't worry. I'll be calling back soon. Talk to ya soon, Flamey!" Before Roy could protest, the line went dead.

"Sir? Is everything okay?"

He turned to Riza and gave her a little smile. "Yes. Major Hughes just informed me that there was a rash of murders in Central, and that the killer or killers may be coming East. It looks like we have something big coming our way. This will be the perfect chance for our team to take on our first real challenge."

"You mean besides trying not to die of laughter at the sight of you in a tux?" Havoc quickly added "Sir?"

"Yes." He ignored the barb. "Apparently they are killing women officers and civilian women in military offices." He turned to Hawkeye. "I know that you are capable of defending yourself, but for now, I want you to travel to and from work in at least groups of two, a male companion would be preferable."

She thinned her eyes at him. He said she was capable, but it sure didn't sound like he believed it. "And what about when I am not at work, sir?" She asked, anger rising in her voice.

"If you are out of uniform, you should be fine. All the women who were killed were in uniform, according to Hughes, going to or from work." He sighed. "Please, I don't want to lose anyone on my team. I know you don't like it, but it is only until we either solve the case, or until we know that the killers are in another city."

"Yes, sir." It was annoying, but deep down she knew that he was doing it for her own good. "I have a friend, she lives in the dorms as well. She works under Colonel Grand. I will walk with her."

He tried to hide his relief. If anything happened to her, he would never forgive herself. "Thank you, Lieutenant." he turned to his men. "So far they have only been killing females, but I still want you all to be very cautious as well. Travel in groups when you can, and don't do anything that would leave you open to attack, like stumbling home drunk."

"Yes, sir." They all answered with a salute.

"I have some paperwork being sent to me by Major Hughes. As soon as it gets here, I will give you all a formal briefing. We are officially on this case as of this moment. So no talking to anyone outside this office about it. No girlfriends, family or anyone else. This stays here. As you were. Back to work."

The papers arrived that night, and the next day, Roy had his formal briefing on the case. At the end of the briefing, he gave them their assignments.

"Fuery, you are going to do some phone tapping. I know it is a needle in a haystack, but we need any information that we can get. Falman, you go down to the library. I want all the information I can about serial killers. We need to know how they think- get in their heads so we can know what they are going to do next. Breda, you go with Falman. That is a big job, and it will take a couple of you." He turned to the last two members of his team. "You two are the best when it comes to guns and covert ops. I need you two to be my eyes out on the street. This is very dangerous. You two need to stick together. If you separate, you're as good as dead."

"Yes sir." They replied in unison.

"This is very serious. People have been dying, and it is my intention to get these monsters off of the streets and either into a dank jail cell, or hanging from the gallows. From now on, we need to be serious and professional. This could be a great opportunity for all of us, to not only come together as a team, but to show the Amesterian military that we are strong, confident soldiers. Dismissed, and good luck." He stood up from his chair, ramrod straight, and saluted them all. They all did the same, then went their separate ways. He sat back down and sighed. "Be careful, all of you." he whispered.

"So far, nothing." Havoc grumbled. He couldn't smoke while on assignment, and it was making him cranky. They had been out for the better part of a week, and they had found absolutely nothing. There hadn't been any confirmed deaths from the killers in any city. Western and Southern Command were checking in daily with Roy and his team, but so far everything was quiet.

"I wonder if they just ran because Hughes and his team were getting too close?"

"We can't assume anything, Lieutenant Havoc. We still have quite a bit of ground to cover today. That's a long enough break."

They both put away their small canteens and put their guns at the ready. A serious facade replaced the pouting one of a moment ago on the blond's face. "Let's go." He said softly.

There were plenty of back alleys and old abandoned warehouses to search in the slums on the south side of East City. That is where they found themselves as the sun starting to fall behind the buildings of the town. Roy had told them that he wanted them to stop before nightfall each day, since working at night was much more dangerous, but they had one block that they wanted to finish before they gave up for the day.

"Stay here. I am going a little bit ahead to scout out the next alleyway. You guard my back." Riza whispered softly to Havoc. He nodded and cocked his gun, his eyes scanning the growing inky darkness.

Riza had only traveled a few hundred feet down the thin alley when she heard a soft noise from behind her. Immediately she turned just in time to see Havoc slump down into a heap onto the dirty ground. "Havoc!" She yelled as loudly as she dared. Her gun at the ready, she ran towards where he was, but she only got a couple of steps before she felt a dull thud into the back of her skull. Stars filled her vision and pain overwhelmed her. She stumbled forward another step before dropping her gun and falling to the pavement, losing consciousness before her head hit the ground.

Normal Roy would be home by nightfall- either out on a hot date, or just at home appreciating a fine brandy and some nice, relaxing music.

But on this night he nervously paced the room. He had heard back from everyone except for the two that he was most worried about, the two out on the streets. It was hours past nightfall now, and he hadn't heard from them. He was sure that something was wrong, but East City was large, and he had no way of knowing where they were. He needed to stay at the office in case they called.

Midnight was approaching when the phone finally rang, but when he picked it up, it wasn't who he expected.

"Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang?"

"Yes."

"This is Doctor Meyers of the East City General Hospital. We have one of your men here, a Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc and he was insistent that he needed to talk..."

"I'll be right there." He didn't let the man finish, he slammed down the phone, grabbed his coat, and headed out the door to the motor pool, to grab a car.

A few minutes later, he screeched to a halt in front of the emergency room entrance, not bothering to park the car before he ran inside to the nurses' station.

"Where is Lieutenant Havoc?" He demanded.

"Visiting hours are over, sir. If you would like to come back in.."

He pulled out his pocket watch. "This is a matter of utmost importance." He said, annoyance rising with each syllable. "I need to see him. It is a military emergency."

She frowned at him, but looked at her paper. "241, sir. Down the hallway, take your first left."

"Thank you."

He rushed down the hall, not even bothering to knock on the door before he barged in. There were a couple of nurses in the room, bandaging some minor wounds- scrapes from falling onto the dirty, littered alleyway. He had a bandage on his head. One eye was so swollen that it was totally closed, and he had big purple bruises all over his face and neck, he assumed that it continued down to the rest of his body as well.

"I need to talk to my subordinate alone. It is a military matter." The nurses finished their bandaging and then left, closing the door behind them.

"Havoc, report. Where is Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

"I... don't know, sir." His voice was rough and slightly slurred from the pain medication that he was on. "We... were ambushed in an alley. Hawkeye went to scout the next intersection, and I held back, trying to protect the perimeter. I was hit on the head from behind, and when I didn't go down, they jumped me and kept hitting me until I was finally subdued. I saw Hawkeye turn towards me and yell my name, but then she was attacked as well, and that was the last thing I remember. When I woke up, I was here in the hospital."

"I need to know exactly where you were, Havoc. We need to find her before it's too late."

"We... were in the warehouse district, around Wood Street, taking the search alley by alley. She went ahead to the next intersection, and that was when we were ambushed." A heavy sigh escaped his lips and his voice fell. "I am sorry. I failed to keep her safe." He tried to sit up, but he grimaced in pain. "I think I am out of the game for a bit, sir."

"Thank you, Havoc. I will find her. You just rest up and heal. We need you back." Roy turned and left the room, his long coat fluttering behind him like a cape. Jean leaned back and closed his eyes. He almost felt sorry for those guys when Roy finds them.

Almost.

A couple of quick phone calls and a car ride that seemed to take forever later, he met the rest of his men at the edge of the warehouse district.

"I don't have to tell you that this has to be done quickly and quietly. We need to find Lieutenant Hawkeye. The longer we wait, the more likely it is that we wont find her alive." He paused for a moment to let that digest, but he knew that they already knew the dangers of what they were getting into.

"Fuery, you check the north. Falman, you check the west. Breda, you check the east, and I will check the south." He knew that he was giving himself the most dangerous part of the warehouse, and the most likely place where Hawkeye was. Wood Street was in the south, though he had no idea if they were keeping her anywhere close. He figured that they wouldn't want to drag her far, so it was highly likely that she was there.

"Shoot twice and then once in the air if you find her. That will be our signal to meet back up. We will meet back up here in two hours if the signal is not given. If you are not back in two hours, then we will consider you as a prisoner as well. Go... and.. good luck."

The men split off their separate ways, desperate to find their fellow coworker, solider, and friend.

Roy knew that the two hours was close to being up- hell, it might have passed already, but he wasn't ready to give up yet. It had taken quite a while just to get this deep into the southern part of the warehouse district. He was getting close, he could feel it.

His keen ears picked up a small noise in a building that he was walking past. He wasted no time, finding a way in through a broken window on the side of the building. Roy sneaked through the burnt out husk of the building, as silent as death itself. This building had been abandoned for decades it seemed, and there were parts of it that seemed like they were on the verge of collapsing. He could use that to his advantage, but he would have to be careful, the last thing he wanted was for the building to come crashing down on top of himself and Hawkeye, if she was indeed in here.

It didn't take long to hear some voices coming from down the hallway. As he got closer, he heard a couple of men talking. They must have not been concerned that anyone was going to find them, because they didn't bother keeping their voices low.

"C'mon boss. I wanna have my fun with her."

"No. We have to keep this one presentable. The other girls were just for fun, but this one..." There was a pause, and Roy could only imagine what the pause was for. "She's got some pretty powerful friends. The flame bastard is this little whore's boss."

"I wonder if she hid under his desk and sucked him off while he was speaking to his higher ups. I wouldn't put it past the man. He uses women, he spits them up and throws them out."

"Then why does she continue to work with him?"

"Little whore probably can't find anyone else who would fuck her. I mean look at her. She's pretty, nice and busty, but..." There was another pause that almost made Roy rush forward, but he held himself back. Not now. Not yet. "She's a solider, who else would want her but another solider? She's married to her work, she doesn't have time to try to find a man who would actually love her."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Roy steadied himself. He only heard two people's voices, but he had no idea if there were more people in there who were not speaking. He strained to listen against the wall, but those two were the only voices that he heard. It was dangerous, not having any clue about what he was going into, how many people he was going to have to fight. He knew that he should wait and find the rest of the men, especially because it sounded like they were not going to do anything with her immediately, but he wasn't about to leave her here after he just found her.

Roy sneaked along the wall of the dank, dark hallway until he found the door of the room that he had been listening into. When he put his ear to it again, he still only heard the same two voices. His heart pounded in his chest. He had to save her. This was the moment, before anyone else came in, before... whatever they had done to her was any worse.

He steeled his breath and gave his gloves one last tug before using his boot to kick the door open. Thankfully, he had guessed correctly that the old, semi rusting hinges that were on the door would come loose with only a little force, giving him just enough time to survey the room and take his first shot.

SNAP!

SNAP!

Even though he had less practice aiming with his left hand, the fireballs found their marks while the men were raising their guns to fire. Both of their shots went well wide with the shock of suddenly being engulfed in flames. They dropped their guns and fell to the ground, trying desperately to stop their skin from burning off. As soon as Roy had kicked their guns away, he lessened the oxygen in the fire and they lay there, smoldering and smoking, semi-conscious.

"Lieutenant!" He ran over to her, where she had had her arms tied behind the chair and her feet tied to its legs. "Lieutenant, are you alright?"

"Yes, sir. They didn't do much to me, mostly they just tried to get information from me." She rubbed her hands and wrists, trying to get the circulation back to her tingling fingers after he untied her.

"Which I am sure that you didn't give them." He said, more than a bit of pride in his voice. He knew she was strong, stronger than most of the soldiers that he knew, and that it would take much more than this to break her.

"Of course, sir."

"Can you stand?"

"I think so..." Hawkeye tried to stand up, but she had been tied up tight and left there for hours, and her muscles weren't quite ready to support her weight yet. She started to fall forward, but Roy was there, wrapping his arms around her and holding her up.

"I got you. Come on, put your arm around my shoulder and we'll make it out together." It was hard not to think about how close she was to him, he could smell the lingering scent of her perfume and the fruity smelling shampoo that she always used. But he quickly shook those thoughts out of his head. Now was not the time to think about such things. He had to get them both to safety.

It was slow going through the hallways of the abandoned buildings- every little sound echoed through the halls. His left arm was around her waist, helping Hawkeye move forward, his other hand was poised and ready to snap at each sound that reached his ears. But no one came, there were no footsteps other than their own until they finally, finally reached the exit and stepped out into the semi fresh air of the dingy back alleyways of Central. He was never so glad to see the filthy, dirty alleyways of the warehouse district, and by the look on her face, Roy could tell that she was thinking the same thing.

Roy raised his gun and shot twice, then once. It took less than five minutes for the rest of the men to get there. "Hawkeye!" They had all met up at the designated time and place- it had apparently been closer to three hours since they had broken up.

"We were about to give up on you, sir." Fuery said.

"It's good to see that both of you are well." Falman added. The relief on their faces and in their voices that both of them were safe was palpable.

But there was no time for relief.

"Falman, we have two suspects inside the building. I want you and Breda to go in there, tie them up and guard them. Fuery, get on the radio and call for an ambulance and a police van. "

"Sir, I am fine. I don't need to go to the hospital."

"It is just a precaution. I am sure you will be out quickly." The tone in his voice, though lighthearted, had the undercurrent that he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Yes, sir!" The three other men moved out and Roy led Riza to a group of boxes where she could sit down.

The wait was agonizing. Roy was constantly on guard, poised to make sure that none of the men's cronies were going to show up, and he was concerned that Hawkeye was hiding some injury that she didn't want to worry him about.

The ambulance car came fairly quickly, Unfortunately there was no room for someone else to sit in the back, so Roy had to watch the car drive off and hope that everything would be alright until he got there. But he had other things to attend to. He headed back into the building to make sure that the prisoners were still alive. He had some serious questions that he wanted answers to.

When the police arrived to take the men, Roy went with them. He was not about to let something happen to let them get away, not after he had finally caught the men behind the rash of murders and kidnappings. Even though the police kept assuring him that they had it under control, he didn't leave until they had been looked at by the on staff doctor and locked up in separate cells so they couldn't communicate with each other.

Then, and only then, did he allow himself to relax enough to go see how his First Lieutenant was doing.

He headed to the hospital, not surprised that the rest of the group was already there, giving her a bit of a hard time about laying down on the job.

While the rest of them talked to her and ribbed her good naturedly, he stood back a bit, leaning against the wall and smiling, just enjoying that fact that after everything they went through, they finally seemed to be really coming together as a tight knit group, even if he hated that it took this for them to finally become a real team.

Eventually, the rest of them left, and Roy finally walked up to her, pulled up a chair and sat down next to her.

"So, I guess you checked out okay then?"

"Well, you were wrong." There was a pause. Worry rose inside of him. What was wrong? Did she had some internal injuries? Was there something seriously wrong with her? His mind raced for the brief moment that she paused talking.

"You were wrong, they are going to keep me overnight for observation, even though I insisted that I was fine, and they seem to agree with me."

Roy let out the breath that he didn't even know that he was holding. Damn her for making him worry, even if it was only for a moment. A smirk rose on his face. "Well, if that's all that I'm wrong about, then I don't mind being wrong." he chuckled and finally relaxed a bit.

"Lieutenant?"

"Yes, sir?"

I care for you deeply, I want to tell you, but we can't. I don't want to ruin our friendship- he wanted to tell her all of this and more, but he settled for "I... I'm glad that you didn't die."

A small smile played across her face.

"Me too, sir.


	8. Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Roy looked at the piece of paper again, then back over at his First Lieutenant. "Why in the world are we going out in the middle of nowhere? I'm a Lieutenant Colonel, can't I send a couple of my men on this wild goose chase?"

A small sigh escaped Hawkeye's lips. "This isn't just any old alchemist. There is a rumor that this person is a relative of Hoenheim- an alchemist of some renown. The state wants this man in under their command, they are convinced that he could be a valuable asset to the military."

"Yes, I am well aware of Hoeneheim." He said in a drab droll. "That is assuming of course that he actually wants to join the military."

"That is why they need your charms." He didn't miss the slightly mischievous smile that she gave him.

"And you are coming with me, right?"

"Who else would you trust to keep you on the right path, sir?"

A smile was her only answer. No one, they both knew it. She was his rock, his anchor. She kept him on the straight and narrow path, the path that would lead him to the highest position in the land. He wouldn't trust anyone else with his life but her.

He looked down at the paper again. "Thirty one years old, from Risembool. Hmm. That is out east. I remember passing through there when we were heading out to Ishval. But I don't remember any rumors about any alchemists then. You'd think that we would have heard of him."

"Unless he moved there, or wasn't an accomplished alchemist yet."

"That was only a few years ago. No alchemist gets that good, that fast. I took seven straight years of strict training from your father, and even then I had to learn more on my own."

Hawkeye rolled her eyes. "Of course because if you can't do it less than seven years, then no one can right?" she said, bemusedly. "Well, I guess we will have to ask him when we get there, sir." She smiled at him. "What was the man's name again?"

"Edward Elric."

"I have purchased our tickets already, we leave this afternoon. I suggest that you take the rest of the day off to pack. Lieutenant Havoc will pick you up promptly at 1600 hours. When we get there, we can find out the story of his man, Edward Elric."


End file.
